Beverage vending machine



v f x March 4, 1947. e. F. ALBRECHT 2,416,723

BEVERAGE VENDING MACH NE Filed April 21, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR. 6/4 Mam f? 4.4 5260/7 March 4, 1947. ALBRECHT 2,416,728

BEVERAGE VENDING MACHINE Filed April 21, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 4,1947. G. F. ALBRECHT 2,416,728

BEVERAGE VENDING MACHINE Filed April 21, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

March 4, 1947. s. F. ALBRECHT 2,416,728

BEVERAGE VENDING MACHINE Filed April 21, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I N VENTOR.

Patented Mar.'4, 1941 UNITED STATE s PATENT OFFICE BEVERAGE VENDINGMACHINE Gilmon F. Albrecht, Madison, Wis. Application April 21, 1945,Serial No. 589,588

Claims. (Cl. 312-48) The present invention refers to coin controlled andmanually operated venders particularly adapted for vending bottledbeverages, the machine having preferably a refrigerating unit forcooling the beverage before being vended.

The principal objects of the present invention are to simplify thedesign so it may be manufactured at low cost, is durable and reliable.

Vending machines are operated by the general public, old and young andthey therefore must be reliable and not apt to get out of order evenwhen roughly handled. I have designed my device so it operatessuccessfully with very few and simple operating parts having meanswhereby, regardless of the number of packages or bottles in the machine,the operation will not be affected.

One of the objects of the present invention to design the holdingshelves and passageways so the containers may be conveniently removed orreplaced when the door is opened, at which time the bottles or packagesand the mechanism of the device will be in full view of the attendant.

To these and other useful ends my invention consists of parts,combinations of parts or their equivalents and mode of operation ashereinafter described and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawingsin which:

Fig. l is a fractional front view of a cabinet equipped with myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevational view of a part of the door illustrating themeans for closing the bottle outlet when the machine is at rest.

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of a cabinet with the door removed,at which time the bottles and mechanism are exposed to view, thecompressor unit being shown by dotted lines.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fractional view similar to Figure 3.

Fig. 5 is a side fractional elevational view of the major parts of theselective dispenser operating means.

Fig. 6 is a front fractional view of certain parts shown in Figure 5. I

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a dispensing cylinder.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of my improved compensating shutter.

Figure 9 is a side elevational view of a vertical section throughmembers l2, l3, and 49.

Figure 10 is an end sectional view of shaft 51 showing the hub 13 ofmember 63 and pin 15 as engaged by ratchet portions of this hub.

Figure 11 is a rear view of the clutch of shaft 2' 59 showing the cammechanism adapted to return lever 61 to its neutral position.

As thus illustrated the cabinet is designated by reference character In,having a door II, the door having a dispensing outlet l2, with a bottlereceiving trough l3. The upper portion of the cabinet is surrounded onthree sides, top and bottom by members i4, I5, I6, I! and I8, member i8being the rear wall of the cabinet and the front being closed by meansof the door ll, thus forming a. chamber 20 when the door is closed.

The lower portion of the cabinet (see Figure 3) isnot insulated, forminga chamber 25 (shown by dotted lines) in which is located a compressor 26having a driving motor 21, with a fan 28 and a condenser 29, as shownand identified by dotted lines. Fan 28 is adapted to force air throughthe condenser for cooling the compressed refrigerant and it is thoughtthese elements are too well known to require further description. It issufficient to'say that evaporator coils are suitably positioned in oraround chamber 20 and are operatively connected to the compressor 26 andcondenser 29. It is the custom generally to provide a thermostat inchamber 20 which is adapted to controlthe temperature in this cham-' berthrough motor 21 On the on and off principle.

I supply a. transversely centrally positioned vertical partition 30 inchamber 20 having a number of diverging shelves 3| which terminate at 32leaving passageways 3-333 between the side walls of chamber 20 and endsof members 3|. Each shelf 3| is preferably made wide enough for saythree bottles and including the adjacent bottles in the passageways. themachine. as shown, would have a holding capacity of 88 bottles whenfull, plus 8 bottles which lie within the curved extension 34 from thepassageways.

Shelves 3| are given a downward inclination sufficient to cause thebottles'to be discharged into passageways 33, first from the upper shelfand then serially from each succeeding shelf as clearly illustrated inFigure 3.

The angle of inclination of the shelves is sufilcient to cause thebottles to roll toward passageways 33. It will be seen that it is acomparatively simple matter to replenish the supply ofbottles in thecabinet by opening the door and that when the door is open the bottlesand entire mechanism will be exposed to view.

Curved passageways 3434 comprise upper guideways i040. The bottomportion of these passageways comprise preferably compensators 4l-4lwhichiare pivotally mounted near their centers to front and rearbrackets as at". These brackets are secured to the side walls of thecabinet.

I provide guideways 43-43 adjacent the upper ends of members 4|, theupper end of members 4| being a slight distance from the wall of thecabinet as at 44, thus to give members 4| limited freedom of movement ontheir axes 42. Members 4| terminate at 45. I provide stops 39 which willprevent an out of bounds movement of members 4| when there are nobottles lying on the upper ends of these members.

I provide dispensing rollers 46-46 each having preferably six curvedlongitudinal grooves 41 which are arranged so that when members 46 areat rest the upper pocket 41 in each of these members supports a bottle48.

The compensator 4| operates in such a manner that there is always aboutthe same amount of pressure against a bottle 48, by the adjacent bottle.It will be understood that there never will be enough pressure against abottle 48 to move the roller and its connected parts.

Outlet trough I3 registers with outlet l2 in the door and outlet l2 inthe door registers with a guideway 49, so that when the door is shut, ifone or the other roller 46 is turned in the direction indicated by arrowfor one sixth revolution,

the bottle will be discharged into guideway 49 from which it will slidedownwardly and outwardly end-wise through opening I 2 and into receivingtrough l3, within convenient reach of the purchaser. Opening I 2 in thedoor for obvious reasons cannot be left open when the machine is atrest. I therefore provide a gate valve 89 which is opened by themovement of the mechanism which turns one or the other of the rollers 46and then is closed as will hereinafter appear. It will be understoodthat Figure 2 is a rear fractional view of the door.

Referring now to Figures 4, 5 and 6; rollers 46 are mounted on shafts 55as an axis: and these shafts are provided with sprockets 5656. shaft 51is rotatably mounted on its inner end 58 in a bearing 69, which issecured to members 68 and 40 preferably on member 40 as illustrated inFigure 5. Door ITcarries a rotatably mounted shaft 59. Shafts 51 and 59are in alignment and are provided with suitable engaging jaws as at 60so when the door is closed shafts 51 and 59 will be engaged. n the outerend of shaft 59 I provide a manually operated handle 6'! so shaft 51 maybe turned as and for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

I rotatably and slidably mount sprockets 62 and 63 on shaft 51, each ofthese sprockets being operatively connected to a sprocket 56 by means ofa chain 64 whereby either of the roller 46 may be turned for deliveringa bottle from either the rig'ht or left side of the machine, as willhereinafter appear.

Referring again to Figure 4; it will be noted that if there are but afew bottles on the left side of the machine, the pressure on the upperend of the compensator will be light because there is the weight of but2 cr 3 bottles lying on this part of the compensator and there willtherefore be a very light downward pressure on the upper end ofcompensator 4|. On the other hand if for example as shown at the rightin Figure 4 there may be the weight of four or more bottles on the upperend of compensator 4|, there will naturally be a greater pressureagainst the last two bottles on this side of the machine and there willtherefore be a greater upward pressure of the lower end of thecompensator against the bottle on this part of the compensator. Iprovide preferably.

rubber friction members 6565 for contact with.

I5. Pins 16-76 are secured in shaft 51 and are.

positioned so that when a hub is in its outermost position (as shown onthe left of Figure 5) the pin will be engaged by teeth 15, at which timethe teeth on the right side will be disengaged as illustrated.

I provide means for moving either of the hubs to an engaged position asfollows:

Arm 1! is arranged to be oscillated by the selective device, this armhaving cams I8 and 19.

Cam 18 is adapted to engage hub 13 when arm 11 is in its lowest positionand when this arm is moved upwardly to a neutral position both hubswillbe in their disengaged position and when arm 1'! is moved to its highestposition hub 12 will be moved to the right so as to be engaged.

It will be seen by scrutinizing Figures 4 and 5 that if arm 11 is in theposition shown in Figure 5 andhand lever 61 is moved counter clockwiseon its shaft 59, the right hand roller will be moved and a bottledispensed and another bottle received by the succeeding-groove 41; ifhowever arm 11 is moved upwardly to an extreme position then if lever 61is moved clockwise, the left hand roller 46 will be turned in thedirection indicated by arrow and a bottle will be dispensed from theleft side of the machine. If however arm l! is left in a neutral ositiona bottle will not be dis- .pensed if lever 61 is moved in eitherdirection. As a'matter of convenience I have shown lever 6'! in itsupper or neutral position in Figure 1. Therefore this lever must bemoved either to the right or left for dispensing a bottle. Asillustrated in Figures 9 and 11, upwardly diverging arms 82-82 aresecured to shaft 59 having a depending member 82' which at its lower endis pivoted to a link 83, the lower end of which link is pivoted to valve09. A roller 84 is rotatably mounted on the forward end of an arm 84'.This arm is pivoted to door II as at 85. A spring 85' is at its lowerend anchored to door II and at its upper end to arm 84'. Thus roller 84yieldingly engages arms 82 and acts to return lever 61 to its neutralposition and close valve 89. It will be noted that guideway 8| issecured to member 68 by means of legs 82+-82. A cross member 83 issecured to legs 82 at its ends and isposi tioned for the necessary freemovement ofmember 11.

Any convenient means may be supplied for engaging hubs 12 and 13. InFigures 5 and 6 one form ,of this operating means is shown wherein aslot in arm 11 is adapted to position the Any convenient closure andchains 64 are in front of this member.

I provide means for coin controlling the operation of lever 81 asfollows:

A selector lever 85 is provided so that this lever may be moved in thedirection of printing which designates the kind of beverage in themachine. In Figure 1 root beer is designated on the right side and 'l-Upon the left side and lever 85 is pointing in the direction of root beer;if however the customer desires '7-Up this lever is moved to the left.Lever 85 is mounted on a shaft 86 and an arm 81 is secured to thisshaft. This arm has a connection to the upper end of arm 71. Thus itwill be seen that when lever 85 is moved to the right arm 11 will movedown and cam 18 will cause hub 13 to be engaged with pin 16 and if lever85 is moved to the left cam 19 will cause hub 12 to be engaged, thus thepurchaser may choose the beverage desired.

A coin slot 88 is provided having a duct which leads to a convenientcoin controlling device, which is associated with lever 61 and isarranged to prevent lever 61 from moving in either direction from itsneutral position unless a coin is first inserted. The coin when onceinserted in slot 88 will permit lever 61 to be operated for dispensingthe beverage selected.

It will be seen that the purchaser must first move lever 85 over thebeverage wanted, but the beverage cannot be dispensed until a coin isdropped into the slot so as to release lever 61 for dispensing thebottle.

I provide a gate valve 89 over outlet 12 which has an operatingconnection to shaft 59 as shown, whereby when lever 61 is moved ineither direction for dispensing a bottle, this valve will be opened andthen closed after the lever has been permitted to return to its neutralposition (see Figures 2 and 11).

In the drawings it will be seen that no provisions have been made toprevent the bottles from moving into trough 49 accidentally. If suchprovisions are necessary, means may be provided as shown in my issuedPatent Number 2,336,382, December 7, 1943. In this patent members 58 areused for the purpose.

In the figures I have shown rollers 46 in a position whereby the bottlesdispensed are carried over the top of the roller. It will be understoodthat the rollers may be suitably designed and positioned so the bottlesare caused to move under the rollers for dispensing.

It will be understood that my invention is largely concerned with thedevice as shown in Figure 4 and that some slight modifications may bemade in this showing and that many minor detailed changes may be made inthe design shown in the other figures without departing from the spiritand scope of my invention as recited in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A vending device of the character described comprising; a number ofvertically spaced shelves mounted in a cabinet each extended to avertical passageway and being positioned at an angle to the horizontalso the bottles will travel toward the passageway and downwardly in thepassageway by gravity, the arrangement of the shelves being such as willcause the bottles to be discharged into the passageway first from theupper shelf and then serially from each succeeding shelf, dispensingmeans at the bottom of said passageway whereby the bottles may bedischarged therefrom one at a time, said dispensing means beingpositioned under the shelves and a distance from the passageway, acurved passageway extending from the bottom of the vertical passagewayto the dispensing means, the bottom of said curved passageway beingformed by a member pivotally supported near its center forming acompensator, whereby the weight of the bottles against the entrance sideof the compensator will cause the outlet end thereof to cause mor orless upward pressure against the bottles thereon and crowd the bottlethereon against the top of the curved outlet.

2. A device as recited in claim 1 including; yielding means on the upperwall of said curved passageway adapted to restrain the bottle laying onthe delivery end of said compensator.

3. A device as recited in claim 1 including; retarding means in the topof said curved passageway adapted to yieldingly contact the bottle onthe outlet end of said compensator and prevent harmful pressure againstthe bottle on the dispenser.

4. A device as recited in claim 1, said cabinet having a door adapted toexpose all of the bottles and the mechanism to view when open as and forthe purpose specified.

5. A device of the character described comprising; a chamber having atransversely centrally positioned vertically arranged partition, anumber of vertically spaced shelves on opposite sides of said partitioneach adapted to hold a number of elongated circular containers, saidshelves terminating at their outer ends in a downwardly extendingpassageway in the chamber adapted to receive containers from theshelves, said shelves being mounted at an inclination to cause thecontainers to roll by gravity into the passageways first from the uppershelf and then serially from each succeeding shelf, inwardly curvedextensions to the bottom of said passageways each terminating at adispensing cylinder with a number of grooves whereby the lowermostcontainer to be dispensed will lie in a groove, a common dischargeopening between side cylinders, manually operating means adapted toselectively engage and turn a cylinder whereby a single container may bedispensed.

GILMON F. ALBRECHT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of .record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,462,283 Hegnes July 1'7, 19232,212,797 smith Aug. 27, 1940 527,930 Beretta Oct. 23, 1894 1,038,236Tubergen Sept. 10, 1912 1,022,753 Pitts Apr. 9. 1912

